ACLU of Texas Announces Three New Board Members

The ACLU of Texas is excited to announce the recent election of three new members to its Board of Directors — Fatma Marouf, Leon Reed, Jr., and Joli Angel Robinson — following a vote by the organization’s members. In addition, five incumbents were reelected. 

The ACLU of Texas elects directors to its Board through an annual election in which all members may participate. Each Board member is elected to a three-year term. Other members of the Board of Directors are listed here.
 

Fatma Marouf

Fatma Marouf (she/her) is a professor at Texas A&M School of Law and the founding director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic. She supervises students on cases involving deportation defense, asylum, and humanitarian applications. She also litigates federal cases involving the constitutional and civil rights of immigrants, including access to health care in immigration detention, abuses against detained immigrants, and prolonged detention. She served as a consultant to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees on a report related to LGBTQIA+ immigrants in detention and previously co-directed the Immigration Clinic at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She is also on the board of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.

Fatma writes extensively on issues related to immigration law. Her scholarship advances legal reforms and proposes litigation strategies aimed at improving the fairness of removal proceedings and reducing the use of detention. She has empirically examined the adjudication of federal immigration appeals, as well as regional variations in immigration enforcement. She was named a Bellow Scholar for engaging in empirical research that promotes access to justice. She is currently investigating issues at the intersection of immigration policies and public health.

Before entering academia, Fatma practiced immigration law in Los Angeles, clerked for the Hon. Consuelo B. Marshall, then Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and worked as an attorney with California Rural Legal Assistance. 

She received her law degree from Harvard Law School, her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and her bachelor’s degree from Yale.

Leon Reed, Jr.

Leon Reed, Jr. (he/him) is your “hometown attorney.” Although born in New Orleans, Leon was raised in Fort Worth, Texas, in the small closely-knit community of Como. After studying at Trimble Tech High School and graduating from Western Hills High School, Leon immediately joined the United States Marine Corps where he served with distinction for seven years and was an embassy guard at various locations around the world.

After his service in the Marine Corps, Leon enrolled as a full-time student at Texas Christian University. While at TCU, Leon was involved in numerous student organizations and employed his leadership skills while presiding over many of them. Leon received a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from TCU and his passion for TCU is surpassed only by a few.

Leon was conferred his law degree in 2003 from Texas Tech University School of Law and opened the Law Office of Leon Reed, Jr. in the spring of 2004. He has served as the president of the L. Clifford Davis Legal Association and has been a Fort Worth Top Attorney numerous times in Fort Worth Magazine.

Leon has also been serving as a defense attorney for the Tarrant County Veterans Treatment Court since its inception in 2010, using his experiences as a service member and attorney to serve the needs of the participants in the program. His Marine Corps mindset, spirituality, and life experiences motivate him to serve.

Leon ran for judge in 2014 in Tarrant County and his zeal for serving people may one day lead him back to the political arena. Since then, Leon helped to co-found Walk For Reform, a group of attorneys dedicated to bettering police and community relations, and in August of 2020, Leon walked the 200 miles from the Fort Worth City Hall to the Texas Capitol in Austin to call attention to the need and support for the passing of a Texas George Floyd Act.

Leon is currently a member of several boards including the Tarrant County Bar Foundation Board, the African American Lawyers Section of the Texas State Bar, and the L. Clifford Davis Legal Association, formerly known as the Tarrant County Black Bar Association.

Joli Angel Robinson

Joli Angel Robinson (she/her) is currently the President and CEO of Housing Forward, where she amplifies the conversation around housing and homelessness and supports the homelessness ecosystem in Dallas and Collin Counties. 

Previously, she served as the Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity, where she advocated for affordable housing throughout Dallas and Kaufman Counties. Prior to her time at Dallas Area Habitat, she managed the Office of Community Affairs and the Youth Outreach Unit at the Dallas Police Department. Alongside her team, she was an integral part of furthering the mission of the Dallas Police Department by seeking to establish a proactive, continuous, and positive relationship with the Dallas community.

Joli holds a Master’s degree in Communications specializing in Organizational Communication Management and a Bachelor of Art and Science in Sociology and Communication, both from Dallas Baptist University. Joli previously served in a volunteer capacity as a co-chair for the Dallas Truth, Racial Healing, & Transformation organization and as a court-appointed special advocate with Dallas CASA. Currently, she serves on the board of the North Texas LGBT Chamber of Commerce Board.